Mother of 6 feed hungry kids in her neighborhood raises 40 times her GoFundMe goal

A woman set up a GoFundMe account to feed kids in her neighborhood in St. Louis. She aimed to raise at least $1,500 but didn’t think that she would get 40 times the amount of her original goal.

Champale Anderson has been giving out free snacks to children in her community. Though she knows parents are responsible to feed kids and give them a comfortable life, Anderson also understands that not everyone is capable to do so.

Currently, food insecurity is rampant in St. Louis and according to Operation Food Search, there are too many families going to bed hungry throughout the St. Louis region.

Seeing the kids go hungry in her community made Anderson’s heart break. As a mother of 6, she couldn’t imagine seeing any of her kids go hungry during or after school.

For the past five years, Anderson’s been preparing 100 lunches to feed kids out of her own pocket. “I’m just trying to help the kids that don’t have enough at home or just hungry after school,” Anderson said.

Her open-door policy has helped a lot of children in her neighborhood. Outside her home is a sign that reads “Champ Tears Drops, free snacks anytime. Donations welcome.”

After school, hungry children would run to her house for a bag of snacks. “Sometimes that snack is the only thing kids have that evening. They get a bag at 3 p.m. and they’re back by 7 p.m. for more,” Anderson said.

On some days, she would hand out a hundred more meals to kids. “They get off the bus and they take off running and they never know what I will have in the bags. I switch it up- special treats for my special babies,” Anderson stated.

While 100 snack bags seem enough to feed kids in the entire neighborhood, Anderson hopes she can do more and make his feeding operation mobile.

Since she’s been doing this for years out of her own money, Anderson thought she needed some support from other people. This was why she started her GoFundMe Campaign with an initial goal of raising $1,500.

Anderson did not imagine that her campaign would be this successful. By September 18, she already raised more than $60,000 which was a lot more than she was expecting. The amount of donations continues to rise and Anderson is very grateful for everyone lending a hand.

With the donations she got from GoFundMe, Anderson was able to buy more food items for the kids. She can now fill up the snack bags with more exciting surprises such as cookies, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fruits, juice,  and other delicious treats.

Anderson said that she was going to continue her feeding operation with or without a GoFundMe account. “That’s really not a big deal to me, that money, I did it without that. I’m happy to get the help that I need with my babies. I want to keep this going whether I have a GoFundMe or not,” Anderson explained.

“It makes me proud and I want to keep going and my goal is to go to different neighborhoods and give out bags,” she added.

With her determination and the help from others who support her vision, Anderson hopes to feed more kids in the poorest regions of America. If you wish to help accomplish her mission, visit her GoFundMe page.